Translational Cancer Immunology

Addressing Immune Resistance

Cancer scientists have recognized an emerging hallmark of cancer referred to as immune evasion, or as immune resistance—the ability for cancer cells to evade the immune system.

Although considerable progress has been made in understanding how cancers induce immune evasion, thus causing resistance to treatment interventions, including immunotherapy, additional research is still needed. Following immunotherapeutic interventions, indeed only 30% of cancer patients respond optimally, thus demonstrating the urgency to explore the underlying reasons leading to such phenomena more in depth.

At the Saint John’s Cancer Institute, the Rosalie and Harold Rae Brown Cancer Immunotherapy Research Program is addressing this problem by enabling high throughput immune fingerprints (molecular functional profiles), at baseline and following therapeutic interventions, to facilitate precision medicine and help select: (i) patients who benefit most to treatment interventions, (ii) treatments that are most appropriate and effective for patients.

Immunology Program Funding

The Translational Immunology Research department is proudly supported by Rosalie and Harold Rae Brown Cancer Immunotherapy Research Program. The Rosalie and Harold Rae Brown Cancer Immunotherapy Research Program provides collaborative services and solutions for our centers of excellence, which includes clinical teams for melanoma, breast, endocrine, neurosciences, and other types of cancer. Together, we develop immunology therapeutics designed for each patient’s specific attributes, working to improve outcomes and quality of life. Immunology therapeutics are developed here at the Saint John’s Cancer Institute—a premier research facility that is actively partnering with academic and industry organizations around the world.

More about Precision Immunology

Our immune system can recognize what is normal and what is foreign in our body. As such, our immune cells are regularly trained to fight everything that is not part of our self. One of the reasons why cancer cells can grow and multiply without being challenged is because our immune system doesn’t recognize the development of cancer cells as something strange. This phenomenon is referred to as immune evasion or immune escape–cancer cells escaping or evading the immune system.

By focusing on what is causing evasion, will help guide better treatment and management of cancer progression. It is therefore important to assess each individual case because immune evasion in one patient can be different from what is causing immune evasion in another. It is the fundamental principle of precision immunology and medicine—identifying the inhibitors of immune response at the patient level.

Kim Margolin, MD, FACP, FASCO

Kim Margolin, MD, FACP, FASCO, is a nationally recognized leader in translational melanoma research and immuno‑oncology, serving as Medical Director of the Melanoma Program at the Saint John’s Cancer Institute. Over nearly four decades, she has played pivotal roles in advancing immune‑based therapies for melanoma, contributing to the development of cytokine therapies, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and emerging cellular immunotherapies. Her work spans laboratory‑informed clinical investigation, including her long‑standing leadership within the Cytokine Working Group and the Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network, and her service on major cooperative oncology groups such as SWOG.

Dr. Margolin has been centrally involved in numerous groundbreaking clinical trials, including research that helped establish agents like ipilimumab as foundational therapies in melanoma. Her translational research interests include mechanisms of brain metastasis, immunologic determinants of treatment response, and optimizing systemic therapies for high‑risk and metastatic skin cancers. At Saint John’s Cancer Institute, she collaborates closely with surgeons and molecular scientists to drive innovation across clinical trials, translational immunology, and precision therapeutics—all with the goal of improving outcomes for patients with melanoma and other cutaneous malignancies.